


Familiar

by NuclearNik



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Gen, a smidge of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:40:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23474089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NuclearNik/pseuds/NuclearNik
Summary: To win Hermione’s heart, you had to impress her cat.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 16
Kudos: 202





	Familiar

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mamapotterhead2492](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mamapotterhead2492/gifts).



> For my friend Mamapotterhead2492, a lover of fluff.

To win Hermione’s heart, you had to impress her cat.

Draco learned this the hard way; Crookshanks was firmly his enemy until he started slipping the little furball extra treats when Hermione wasn’t looking. It took some time, but eventually, Draco was allowed to give a casual scratch behind the ears, then moved up to getting rubs and purrs against his trouser leg. 

When Crookshanks had crawled into his lap for the first time, he realized he didn’t much mind the creature. Now, much to the chagrin of his mistress, the feline sometimes preferred him. He would never admit it, but Draco was pleased to have won over her chubby little protector.

And if he slipped bits of bacon from his plate to the lurker under the table despite Hermione’s insistence that they keep Crooks on a strict diet in his old age, well, they were mates. He couldn’t say no to those plaintive meows.

On the day they brought their baby home from St. Mungo’s, the orange-haired kneazle took up his post beneath the bassinet. Each night, he’d curl up there, the gentle vibrations from his purring soothing the noisy little human who had interrupted his quiet life.

As the baby became a toddler and started sleeping in her own bed, she had a friend each night, curled on top of the quilt at her feet.

The elderly cat began to reach his final years, and a knot formed in Draco’s gut each morning when he quietly opened the door to check on his daughter and her furry companion, a whisper always present in his mind that  _ this _ could be the day.

And when that day came, and Crookshanks fell asleep in the sun for the last time, Draco held his girls in his arms as they cried, unshed tears of his own burning his eyes.


End file.
